Gender

Our Women’s Partner Pipeline Programme supports women who are a few years out from partnership and their partner sponsors. The aim is to support a high proportion of these women through a successful transition to partnership.

"Participating in the Women's Partner Pipeline Programme allowed me to step away from my busy day-to-day responsibilities and dedicate time to reflect on my career achievements, identify my strengths, and consider my career aspirations and how I was going to achieve them. One of the most enlightening parts of the programme was realising that there is no 'one size fits all' career path; everyone has the opportunity to make their career path their own and to build a practice that works for them. I enjoyed hearing from women Partners and senior lawyers across the firm to understand how they overcame their challenges and built a successful practice. I have subsequently been able to use the skills that I learnt to share my story to help other women who are starting their legal careers and provide advice and guidance to them, such as how to use the unique opportunities available to them to expand networking possibilities."

- Lucy Thorpe, Partner

These policies and support are for everyone, but we know that much of it will have a positive impact on women in our business, including normalising men in our business taking up enhanced parental leave and sharing caring responsibilities. This support includes new parent coaching for all parents.

"The new parent coaching sessions have been incredibly helpful and supportive during a pivotal transition in my career. Before starting my maternity leave, the first session provided guidance on preparing for going on leave, especially in terms of effective communication with clients and managing expectations whilst I'm away. Then, during my leave, the session focused on maximising my 'keeping in touch' days and exploring my career goals. It helped me stay connected and began to frame conversations with my manager about my return to work and my long-term objectives. I'm looking forward to my third session, which is scheduled a few months after I return to work where I would like to use the time to reflect on my reintegration and continue to develop my career trajectory."

- Joanna Katsaouni, Associate

From flexible working, to career breaks or term time working, our people have stories of working differently to meet their specific personal and work demands.

Sonali Shah is a mid-level associate in the debt finance team. When Sonali returned from maternity leave, she came back to do a Knowledge Development Lawyer secondment role for 10 months, before returning to her associate role.

“The KDL role offered significant flexibility and gave me a new appreciation for the role that knowledge lawyers play in the team. The benefit of the secondment went far beyond the flexibility. It was a senior role so stretched me. I developed a range of new skills. There had been legislative changes when I was on maternity leave and the KDL role allowed me to stay updated with the law and its impacts. The experience has equipped me with various resources to address queries, which is beneficial to me and the team now that I am back in my role as an associate.

The flexibility that this secondment gave me meant a great deal to me and my family. Now that I am back in my role as an associate, I am finding other ways to flex my time to have family time and do my transactional work”.

- Sonali Shah, Associate

Our Gender Equality network works to increase awareness of gender equality issues, influence policies and processes that support gender equality and celebrate women's achievements and stories in the firm.

Our Family (Parents & Carers) network provides space for parents and carers to build community and share experiences.